Montana's Endangered Species

Black-footed Ferret

29 years after listing, this two-pound weasel remains the rarest
mammal in North America. Introduced diseases and a century of prairie dog control have brought it
to the brink of extinction. With the death of the last of nine captive ferrets at Patuxent Wildlife
Research Center in 1978, most people feared the species had become extinct. Learn more

Least Tern

The interior population of least tern was listed as endangered in 1985. Populations along the
East and West coasts are not endangered. The interior population, which once inhabited all the
major river systems in the middle of the country, evolved to take advantage of constantly changing
rivers. Learn more

Pallid Sturgeon

The pallid sturgeon is the larger of two sturgeons historically found in the upper Missouri
River. The other is the more common shovelnose sturgeon. The pallid sturgeon was not recognized as
a species until 1905 and that classification is still being debated. Three genetic studies
conducted to assess the relationship of the two species have been inconclusive. Learn more

White Sturgeon

The Kootenai River white sturgeon was listed as endangered in 1994. This population had been
declining for at least forty years and natural reproduction has been insignificant since 1974.
Kootenai sturgeon began declining in the 1950s and 1960s as water quality deteriorated due to
pollution. Learn more

Whooping Crane

The world whooping crane population now stands at 319, the highest level of the century. Last
summer 47 pairs nested in and around Wood Buffalo National Park in the Northwest Territories and
adjacent Alberta. This population of 190 whoopers-the only self-sustaining, wild population-winters
at Aransas National Wildlife Refuge on the Texas coast. Learn more